¿Quién roba más, Berlín o El Pollo Álvarez?
B1 Spanish poslechová cvičení · Andská španělština · Vybráno pro středně pokročilé studenty
What does “ladrón que roba a ladrón” mean in Spanish?
This refrán says stealing from a thief is somehow forgivable — your victim had it coming. It’s the line you drop to justify outsmarting a cheat, or with a wink about getting one over on someone shady. The clip riffs on it by comparing two “thieves,” then quips “pues vamos por los 100” — let’s go for the hundred (years of pardon), i.e. let’s rob away.
It’s centuries old: a 15th-century ancestor in “La Celestina” reads “quien engaña al engañador, cien años de perdón” (who deceives the deceiver…), and the Marqués de Santillana logged a “burla al burlador” version — the “days” later swelling to “años.” Note “ladrón que roba a ladrón,” not “que roba a un ladrón,” in the most common modern phrasing.